In some network application environments, it is useful to determine the physical locations of network clients (or rather, the network users that use such network client devices). For example, at e-commerce websites, activities performed by network clients with concealed geographic locations are highly correlated to fraudulent transactions. As such, it would be advantageous to accurately determine the physical locations of network clients to compare such locations to the addresses provided by the users at the clients to prevent undesirable conduct such as fraud. For example, if the determined physical location of a network client did not match the address provided by a user at the client, then fraud may be detected.
Conventionally, a common technique for determining the physical locations of network clients relies on the network client's internet protocol (IP) address. The IP address is looked up in an IP address-geographic location mapping table and the physical location is thus determined. However, the IP address is not always a reliable basis on which to determine the physical location of a network client because a user may conceal or change his or her own real IP address through various means (e.g., through using proxy services).